Sunny 46

After a very fun and windy drive down Tracy Road (take note bikers), we arrived at the trailhead before 6am. We got ourselves changed, turned on our headlamps, and we made our way up the little service road to the fire tower. 

It really is literally like a 10 to 15 minute walk up a little hill to the fire tower. There are a few buildings and communications towers along the way. There's also a large, accessible privy along the way.

Quinn had eyes for all the features he could see around us and he asked which ones we'd already hiked. He seemed annoyed we were too far North to see all those but I told him that one day he'll be able to start picking out mountains he's hiked if he keeps at it. 

As usual, Sunny was quite upset about us being way up in the tower without him. However, here you can see that there's a picnic table at the summit for families who might want to bring a meal with them for this attraction. Still, I'd hesitate to say that this fire tower provides all-day entertainment.

After exhausting discussion about the surrounding region, I definitely had a hard time keeping him engaged for the ten minutes or so until sunrise. We were definitely rewarded for our patience with a pretty clear sunrise. Barton Mt. (actually taller than Belfry) does dominate the East, so it's not the greatest sunrise spot in the world, but it was a great experience just the same. Someone posted sunset pictures from Belfry the night before and certainly it's a much better location for that with the entire High Peaks region laid out to the West and South.

We headed back a bit after 7am and made quick work of the walk down to the car. That'll make it fire tower number 7 for Quinn and 10 for Sunny and me. 

We hopped in the car and started driving to Keene. It was a lovely drive through an early morning Autumnal wonderland. We passed through Elizabethtown (which certainly seems to have seen better days) and past Lincoln Pond. There's a State campground here which seems to span both sides of the road along the lake. The drive down 9N past Hurricane and Giant wilderness was gorgeous.

We stopped at the Keene Stewart's for breakfast, of course, before moving on to the mountain.

Little did I know, apparently there was a mountain bike race scheduled for today. There were loads of people at the Olympic center today. Some attendants at the entrance guided us to a parking area quite far from the trailhead. We took the shuttle because, if you recall, the request from Quinn had been 4 miles and 4 miles he would get.

We had to pass through a bag checkpoint at the Olympic center and there we saw two familiar faces. First was the trail steward who'd talked to us the last time we were here. She congratulated Sunny and me on our 46er.  Second, one of the bag checkers was a fella who I'd met on Allen and had saved one of my handkerchiefs for me. It's such a small world sometimes.

At great length we were finally on the move around 8:50. It was a balmy 70 degrees Fahrenheit already, but not terribly humid. Quinn had lots of questions about the bobsled run and the race going on adjacent to the trail. I did my best to answer the questions. Fortunately, Quinn had experienced the Olympic museum a few weeks ago, so he knew what a bobsled was and even kind of knew how it felt to ride one.

For much of the hike up, Quinn held onto Sunny's leash and wobbled along up the stairs. Quinn likes to play a "throwing" game with me when we hike to keep his mind occupied. He pretends to throw various things at me to get my reaction. This can go on for hours. I was running out of unique reactions by the time the day was through; fortunately he doesn't much care what the reaction is as long as I do so. I've tried singing instead. He hates that.

Sunny was very alert to all the chipmunks and squirrels. Quinn and I were chased up the mountain by the sounds of the bike race. Quinn declared it "annoying".

He also declared the stairs annoying. "My feet are killing me."  I figured he'd handle it a lot better than the adults had the last time we did this, but not really. Van Hovenberg is a very easy trail, but the stone stairs really are brutal on your feet. It's almost like hiking a paved surface and I'd say it might be the only mountain hike so far where I'd actually recommend wearing sneakers instead of boots.

I hadn't noticed this huge overhang with trees clinging to it on the way up. I had to get a picture of Quinn standing under it. He looks so big now which fills me with incredibly bittersweet feelings.

We arrived at the summit a little after 10am, about an hour and fifteen minutes after we'd started. It was a truly gorgeous day. 

I set up Sunny and me in the shade while Quinn wandered around. He met another dog named Sunny who had some choice words for the paparazzi. 

"Dad, which ones have you hiked?"

"See that big one? That one and all the ones to the left of it."

"Which ones have I hiked?"

"None of them. But you will someday if you want to."

It was in the 80s Fahrenheit when we started hiking down again, but the air was still fresh. We cheerfully made our way down. Quinn is now in Cub Scouts so he has a whistle on his pack. While we hiked down, we practiced using the whistle to communicate with one another if we lose sight of each other. He would run ahead and disappear around a corner, then I'd blow my whistle twice and he'd respond. It was a fun alternative to the "throwing game". However, when we got closer to the bike race, we stopped that because the race officials were also using whistles for something or other.

We made it back to the trailhead very quickly; I don't have the exact times but it couldn't have been more than half an hour. We walked down to the shuttle stop and got a ride back to our car. 

Earlier, I'd suggested we might go swimming after our hike and Quinn was very open to that. I brought the boys down to Cascade Lakes again. The water there is so clean and clear and it's so easy to access that it's really the perfect place for a dip after a hike. Of course, I forgot to pack him swim trunks again, but we made it work. Quinn splashed around and talked the ears off the people who came and went while we hung out there. I threw the stick for Sunny more times than I can count. When it comes to fetching in lakes, Sunny doesn't seem to have a limit. This is unsurprising considering his breed's purpose of design.

We genuinely had an awesome day. I actually got an unprompted "I had a fun day with you, Dad," which melted my heart. Of course, ice cream for lunch could not be denied.  

Quinn was very happy about the lack of flies along the Van Ho hike, though I did hear several myself, I think the games we were playing distracted him from them. I think he's still looking forward to Winter, so I'm going to try and curate a list of hikes we can do in the upcoming season. I'll also be heading to Play it Again Sports for a set of snowshoes for him. 

This really is shaping up to be kind of the best year ever for me. If only the world itself could please just stop shitting blood.